Solar / Guides
What solar costs in 2026
On competitive quotes, rooftop solar costs $2.12/W (Florida) to $2.98/W (Illinois) per watt installed in the 11 states we publish; national average $2.60/W. The prices buyers actually reported paying run 34% to 112% higher. Both are true, and the gap between them is the biggest lever you control.
For 9.54 kW in Austin, Texas — what a $200-a-month bill needs — that is $21,187 before incentives on quoted prices and $39,129 on reported prices.Quoted: EnergySage Marketplace real-quote average, as of Sep 2026; page updated 2026-08-28, read 2026-09-05. Reported: LBNL Tracking the Sun 2024 Edition (OSTI 2438480), slide 37, median installed price, residential systems installed in 2023, 2023$/W DC, read from the chart labels, read 2026-09-05.
Two prices, both true
| competitive quoted prices | typical reported prices | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The average of real, competitive quotes on a marketplace — installers bidding for a buyer who is comparing. | The median of what buyers actually paid, across all installers and equipment tiers, recorded in permit and incentive data. |
| Source | EnergySage Marketplace real-quote average, as of Sep 2026; page updated 2026-08-28 (EnergySage 2026) | LBNL Tracking the Sun 2024 Edition (OSTI 2438480), slide 37, median installed price, residential systems installed in 2023, 2023$/W DC, read from the chart labels (LBNL 2023) |
| What it is for | Every modelled figure on this site: what you get if you shop around. | The second line beside each result: what the average buyer paid. |
The gap is methodology, not staleness — a reader who is later quoted the higher price would rightly distrust a site that showed only the lower one, so every state page and the calculator show both. Why we show both.
Price per watt by state
Installed price per watt before incentives, quoted and reported, sorted by the quoted price. Each value is a record with its own source and read date.
| State | EnergySage 2026 | LBNL 2023 | Gap | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | $2.12/W | $4.50/W | +112% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| Arizona | $2.21/W | $4.00/W | +81% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| Texas | $2.22/W | $4.10/W | +85% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| California | $2.48/W | $4.20/W | +69% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| New Jersey | $2.58/W | $4.80/W | +86% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| Pennsylvania | $2.58/W | — | n/a | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05 |
| Maryland | $2.62/W | $4.30/W | +64% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| Connecticut | $2.72/W | $4.60/W | +69% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| New York | $2.76/W | $4.50/W | +63% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| Massachusetts | $2.91/W | $3.90/W | +34% | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05; LBNL 2023, read 2026-09-05 |
| Illinois | $2.98/W | — | n/a | EnergySage 2026, read 2026-09-05 |
Pennsylvania and Illinois: LBNL publishes no median (fewer than 20 observations). We show one basis rather than borrow a neighbour's figure.
What a system costs for your bill
Price per watt becomes a system price through size, and size follows your bill: the engine sizes the array to cover 100% of your annual use at your state's rate and production. Austin, Texas, quoted prices:
| Monthly bill | Use / yr | System | Panels | Gross cost, quoted | Gross cost, reported | Net cost after credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | 6,625 kWh | 4.47 kW | 12 | $9,917 | $18,315 | $9,917 |
| $150 | 10,389 kWh | 7.01 kW | 18 | $15,552 | $28,722 | $15,552 |
| $200 | 14,153 kWh | 9.54 kW | 24 | $21,187 | $39,129 | $21,187 |
| $300 | 21,681 kWh | 14.62 kW | 37 | $32,456 | $59,942 | $32,456 |
400 W panels, 17.5 sq ft each. Your own state and bill: the calculator.
What the price does and does not include
- Included
- The turnkey installed price: modules, inverter, racking, wiring, labour, permitting and interconnection, before any incentive. Both bases are before incentives.
- Not included, modelled separately
- Operations and maintenance at $150 a year; one inverter replacement at $1,800 in year 12; panel degradation of 0.5% a year. These come off the savings, not the price.
- Not included, not modelled
- Loan and dealer fees, roof repairs, a main-panel upgrade, monitoring subscriptions, and the difference between premium and standard equipment. What is not modelled.
Assumptions from finance/defaults.json, verified 2026-09-04.
Adding a battery
The engine models one 13.5 kWh unit at $12,000 installed. In 2026 it earns no federal credit; what it changes is self-consumption, from 40% to 75% of production used on site — decisive where exports are credited below retail, irrelevant under full net metering. The battery page runs it by state.
What reduces it in 2026
A buyer's federal credit in 2026 is 0% — 25D unavailable for property placed in service after 2025-12-31 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act). What survives is the state layer: a credit of up to $5,000 in New York, $1,000 in Massachusetts and Arizona, each read from its statute or tax department, and nothing upfront in the other states we publish. The state incentives page lists them with sources; the tax-credit page explains what ended.IRC 25D (expired) — IRS, read 2026-09-05.
How to read a quote
- Divide the total by the watts. A quote is a price per watt in disguise; that is the number to compare with the two bases above for your state.
- Ask which side of the gap it sits on. A quote near the reported median is what the average buyer paid; a quote near the marketplace average is what a compared buyer paid. Three quotes are how you get from one to the other.
- Check what is included. Permitting, interconnection, a panel upgrade and monitoring are the usual differences between two quotes for the same system.
- Run it. Put the price into the calculator: payback and the 25-year net on your bill, with both bases beside it.
The same bill in every state
A $200-a-month bill buys a different system in each state — more kilowatts where electricity is cheap, fewer where it is dear — and each state has its own price per watt and its own credits. The gross cost is the installed price; the net cost is what a buyer pays after the state's modelled credit. Sorted by gross cost, quoted prices.
| State | Rate | System | $/W quoted | Gross, quoted | Gross, reported | State credit | Net cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 34.74¢ | 3.87 kW | $2.48/W | $9,603 | $16,264 | — | $9,603 |
| New York | 29.49¢ | 5.93 kW | $2.76/W | $16,355 | $26,666 | $4,089 | $12,266 |
| Massachusetts | 29.61¢ | 5.85 kW | $2.91/W | $17,029 | $22,822 | $1,000 | $16,029 |
| New Jersey | 24.95¢ | 6.93 kW | $2.58/W | $17,876 | $33,258 | — | $17,876 |
| Arizona | 15.18¢ | 8.47 kW | $2.21/W | $18,715 | $33,873 | $1,000 | $17,715 |
| Maryland | 21.84¢ | 7.42 kW | $2.62/W | $19,442 | $31,909 | — | $19,442 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.73¢ | 7.64 kW | $2.58/W | $19,710 | — | — | $19,710 |
| Connecticut | 24.32¢ | 7.41 kW | $2.72/W | $20,153 | $34,082 | — | $20,153 |
| Florida | 15.1¢ | 9.68 kW | $2.12/W | $20,514 | $43,544 | — | $20,514 |
| Texas | 15.94¢ | 9.4 kW | $2.22/W | $20,863 | $38,531 | — | $20,863 |
| Illinois | 19.89¢ | 8.67 kW | $2.98/W | $25,841 | — | — | $25,841 |
The cheapest system is not the best investment: the payback page ranks the same states by what the electricity they replace is worth.
Questions
- How much do solar panels cost in 2026?
- On competitive quotes, $2.12/W (Florida) to $2.98/W (Illinois) per watt installed across the 11 states we publish, national average $2.60/W (EnergySage Marketplace national average before incentives (12 kW typical system, $31,135); page updated 2026-06-30). For 9.54 kW in Austin, Texas — the size a $200-a-month bill needs — that is $21,187 before incentives. Reported prices in permit and incentive data run 34% to 112% higher; the page shows both.
- Why are there two different prices?
- Methodology, not staleness. Marketplace quotes are competitive bids from installers who know they are being compared; reported prices are the medians of what buyers actually paid, across all installers and equipment tiers, as recorded in permit and incentive data (LBNL Tracking the Sun). The first is what you get if you shop around; the second is what the average buyer paid.
- Is the price per watt before or after the tax credit?
- Before any incentive. In 2026 a buyer's federal credit is 0%, so for most buyers the before-incentive price is the price; state credits in New York, Massachusetts and Arizona come off it.
- What does the installed price include?
- Panels, inverter, racking, wiring, labour, permitting and interconnection — the turnkey price a residential installer quotes. It does not include operations and maintenance (the engine assumes $150 a year), the inverter replacement in year 12 ($1,800), financing costs, or a battery.
- How much does a home battery add?
- The engine models one 13.5 kWh unit at $12,000 installed, with no federal credit in 2026. Whether it pays depends on your state's export rules; the battery page runs it.
- What does price per watt mean?
- The installed price divided by the system's rated DC capacity. A 9.54 kW system at $2.22/W is $21,187: 9.54 × 1,000 × 2.22. It is the one number that lets a quote for a 6 kW roof be compared with one for 12 kW, and with the two bases on this page.
- Does a bigger system cost less per watt?
- In real quotes, usually yes: fixed costs such as permitting, design and the truck roll are spread over more watts. This site applies one price per watt to every size, so its cost for a small system is if anything optimistic and for a large one conservative. The state figures are averages over typical residential sizes — 3.87 to 8.67 kW is the range a $200 bill produces across the states we publish.
- Why does Illinois or Pennsylvania show only one price?
- LBNL publishes a state median only where it has at least 20 observations; Pennsylvania and Illinois fall below that, so the page shows the quoted price alone rather than borrow a neighbouring state's figure.
This is general information computed from published data and statute, each cited with the date it was read. It is a screening estimate, not a quote, and not financial or tax advice: confirm the figures against real quotes and with a professional before you rely on them.
Published 5 September 2026. Data last verified 5 September 2026. About the author.